Improvement in the construction of railway-cars



2Sheets-Sheet2. K. THUMPSN 8L S. D. BEERBRWER.

Constructun of Railway Cars. N0. 145.255, Patented Dec.2,l873.

By www mi ATTORNEY..

UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

KIRK THOMPSON AND SYLVESTER D. BEERBROWER, OF OXFORD, PA., ASSIGNORS OF ONE-FIFTH TO WM. L. G. THOMAS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY-CARS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 145,255, dated December 2, 1873; application filed November 25, 1873.

To all whom it may concer-n:

Be it known that we, KIRK THOMPSON and SYLvEsTER D. BEERBRowER, of Oxford, in the county of Chester and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in the Construction of Railroad- Gars; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part of this speciioation, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of a transverse section of -a railroad-car constructed after our method. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are detail views of the same.

This invention has relation to the construction of railroad-car bodies. It consists in constructing the body of a railroad-coach or freight-car with hollow wrought-metal side sills, united rigidly to end sills of wood or wrought metal, and having bolted into them the lower ends of wooden stanchions, whereby we obtain all the required strength to resist vertical and lateral strain without the use of the truss-rods, braces, and other auxiliary supports required in cars having wooden sills. It also consists in the employment of L-shaped plates for the upper ends of the stanchions, which plates are iirmly secured to the stanchions, so that vertical tie-rods are dispensed with and great vertical strength is obtained, as will be hereinafter explained.

The following is a description of our improvements:

In the accompanying drawings, A A represent the longitudinal side sills of the car body, and B B represent the end sills, which connect together the side sills, and constitute the rectangular frame on which the upper portion of the car-body is constructed. The longitudinal sills A consist of V-shaped bars, presenting vertical sides a a, rising from a horizontal bottom, a'. These bars are continuous om end to end of th'e car-body, and they are produced of wrought-iron by means of rollers suitably adapted to the purpose. These sills are preferably rectangular, although their bottoms may be rounded or semicircular.

A A are flat capping-plates, which are fitted snugly into rabbets b b, rolled into the upper edges of the sills A, and which have holes or mortises through them, for the purpose of receiving the tenons c of stanchions C. These stanchions are notched into the sills, so that their outer sides are iush with the outer sides of the sills, as shown in Fig. 6, thus allowing the panels D to extend down over the sills and cover them. The tenons c of the stanchions are iirmly secured into the sills by means of bolts d, which pass up through the bottoms of the sills, and are screwed into nuts e, inserted into the wooden stanchions. We thus brace the stanchions by the capping-plates A', and rigidly secure them to the sills. The end sills -B B, if made of wood, are notched into the ends of the side sills A A, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and rigidly secured by bolts f, which are passed through the side sills horizontally, and screwed into nuts f', inserted into the end sills. A portion of the inner vertical side ot' a sill, A, is cut away, so as to leave a rib, g, which corresponds to a groove, g1, made transversely into the bottom of the end sill B, and the end of this sill is reduced and shaped to iit closely into the sill A beneath the plate A', and also to receive the vertical edge g2 of sill A into a groove, g3. This kind of joint prevents lateral or endwiselooseness, and forms a locked connection of the sills. To the upper ends of all the stanchions of each side of a ear-body we secure a single plate, G, which, in cross-section, is the shape of the capital letter L. This plate covers the upper ends of the stanchions, and extends down a short dis tance outsidethereof, and is secured to them by means of bolts and nuts or wood-screws, as shown in Fig. l. The plate G aibrds great strength vertically as well as transversely, and is tied to the sills by means of the stanchions themselves, thus dispensing with auxiliary tie rods, hitherto rendered necessary in car-bodies.

Owing to the great strength whichis ai'orded by the sills and the plates G, we dispense with counter-braces above the sills, and are thus enabled to extend the windows down to the sills, if necessary. IVe also render unnecessary the use of truss-planks inside of the car, and substitute in lieu thereof narrow wooden i strips h, for supporting the outer ends of the car-seats when such supports are found necessary.

It will also be seen that the ends of the stanchions or uprights are inclosed in such manner that they are not liable to the destructive effects of moisture.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Hollow wrought-metal car-sills A, having the stanchions of the body seated into them, and combined substantially as described.

2. The capplates A,perforated to receive the tenons of the stanchions, in combination with wrought-iron sills A, substantially as described.

3. The side and, end sills united by joints,

constructed, locked, and slotted substantially as described.

4. The stanchions C, combined with L-plates G and V-shaped sills A, substantially as described.

5. A hollow rolled metal oar-body sill A, rabbeted to and in combination with mortised cap-plates A', substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the above we have hereunto subscribed our names in the presence of two witnesses.

KIRK THOMPSON. SYLVESTER D. BEERBROVVER.

Witnesses HENRY PARADEE, ELIAs A. CHAMBERS. 

